This invention relates to ordinance devices. More specifically, this invention relates to light activated fuzes for use in weapons such as bombs, artillery projectiles, and the like.
The prior art contains numerous examples of systems designed to achieve either delayed detonation or point detonation. Point detonation fuzes used in warheads require some form of communication between the point of impact and the detonator which in most cases resides in the rear of the warhead. Generally, the front of the warhead is given an ogive having some geometrical form such as conical, spike, etc. The ogive impacts the target and a signal is produced which is transmitted back to the detonator so as to activate the explosive charge. An exception to this type of system is the "spitter" point detonator fuze which is a small shaped charge located in the front of the ogive. On impact, the spitter shaped charge is activated and a stream of particles is projected from the front of the ogive back towards the shaped charge warhead, into a spit-back tube in the apex of the shaped charge and detonating the explosive at the top of the tube. These prior art devices have been found to contain the following disadvantages:
1. A single piezo-element in the nose of the ogive offers only a limited area of impact on the ogive where the fuze causes the warhead to function.
2. To provide full-frontal-fuze functioning, additional piezo-electric elements must be placed around the ogive in proximity to the surface where it joins the base of the warhead.
3. Double ogives are frequently used to act as a closure or crusher switch to complete a circuit when they impact the target.
4. A wire is run from the piezo-electric element and/or the crusher switch, back through the wall of the shaped charge to the safety and arming device and detonator. In some cases, the wire is replaced by a metal strip running down the side of the warhead.
5. When spit-back fuzes are used, the material in the fuze sits in the path of the jet, and the activation of the spitter causes some damage to the warhead.
These prior art devices may require materials to be placed in front of the jet in its formative stages or the formation of holes through the shaped charge liner wall to accommodate the wires. Additionally, these prior art devices may have the disadvantage of lacking full ogive-impact-functioning capabilities, closure switch malfunctioning or asymmetries produced in the detonation wave in the explosion by the conducting bar running up the side of the charge, particularly for lightly confined warheads containing small amounts of explosives.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,282 issued Sept. 24, 1974 to Warren P. Morrow discloses the use of chemical light as a timing device for mine, bomb and tube-fired munitions. There is utilized chemically reactive components which upon mixture create a detectable chemiluminescent light.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a fuze for use in warheads which avoids all of the above mentioned disadvantages. An additional object of the present invention is to provide a means for activating a detonator which causes the explosive in a warhead to detonate, and functions when the warhead impacts a target at which it has been fired, without the use of wires, closure switches, or other mechanical devices running from the ogive back to the detonator.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide communication between a warhead's front portion which strikes the target, and the safety and arming section of the warhead which contains the detonator, through the generation of light on impact of the warhead.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide full sensitivity for functioning of the warhead when any portion of the frontal section impacts the target.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a light activated fuze for use in warheads which is insensitive when the warhead encounters brush, grass, rain or some other form of low-level impact.